


Three Simple Words - JMRF

by anothergirlinlove (ObsessedWithBands)



Series: Something Different (Why Don't We) [3]
Category: Why Don't We (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Smut, Friendship/Love, Hidden Feelings, Love at First Sight, Original Character(s), Romance, Teen Fiction, Teenagers, Why Did I Write This?, why don't we - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-15 22:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16942053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedWithBands/pseuds/anothergirlinlove
Summary: Jonah Marais Roth Frantzich decides to walk around his hometown during a rare, one week vacation. Unexpectedly, he meets a girl who just moved to his town...Elise Tyler.Elise doesn't seem like someone he'd share his personal secrets with......until she shares hers with him.





	Three Simple Words - JMRF

Jonah.

I've always been looking for the right person. No matter where I'm at, if I'm at a meet and greet or simply walking through a city with my bandmates...I'm looking for someone.

I never thought I would simply find the right person in my own hometown.

Well, actually, I think I just got lucky.

As I walked home from the grocery store, I saw a moving van a few houses away from mine. I unlocked the front door and walked in, seeing my mom setting the table with Esther following her around.

"When did that van come here?" I asked, receiving a hug from Esther when she noticed I was home. My mom shrugged.

"I honestly don't know...you should totally go over there and say hello." Mom replied. I nodded, setting down the groceries I bought on the table and unpacking them from the plastic bags.

"Thank you, Jonah," Mom said, giving me a kiss on the cheek before moving to the kitchen counter and picking up the food we were eating for lunch: pasta.

"You're only here for a week, right?" Esther said as she made space for the pasta bowl to be on the table. I nodded, brushing my fingers through my hair before sitting down at my regular seat. Esther sighed.

"Man...I was hoping I'd be able to bother you longer," Esther smirked, and I laughed. She and Svea always had the habit of getting on my last nerve whenever I visited, but at the same time, I always reminded myself that I was glad to be home in Minnesota, and I had the chance to see everyone.

"Where's Svea at?" I asked Mom. She nodded towards the stairs, soundlessly telling me she was in her room. I nodded in reply, going upstairs and knocking on my youngest sister's door.

"Sveaaa..." my voice trailed off. She opened her door.

"Hey." I said, giving her a short hug before stepping inside. Her bedroom was the exact same as the last time I saw it, the last time I was here. Svea grabbed my hand and pulled me to the window seat, making me sit beside her.

I guess I wasn't the only one who was thinking about the new addition to our street.

"Have you seen who moved in, yet?" I asked her. Svea tilted her head in thought before replying.

"Not really...but I saw two women, a man and a little boy. He looks my age, actually."

"Oh? We should walk over together after lunch and introduce ourselves."

"Okay." Svea said.

After a few minutes of talking about school and life, Svea and I heard Mom calling to us from downstairs that it was time to eat. We held hands as we walked down the stairs, and I let Svea run to her chair and followed her to the table. Dad was already sitting in his, just arriving from the backyard where he was doing yardwork. After giving thanks for the food, we started eating.

Whenever I'm on vacation from touring, Mom makes a point that when I'm home, we focus on family, not work or whatever. These are times when our family is all together, and we should take the time to reconnect and talk about whatever's on our minds. And although Zebulon wasn't here because of his job, the rule was still enforced.

But right now, all I could think of was the moving van, and whoever's belongings were inside of it.

"How long has that house been up for sale? I don't remember anyone moving out the last time I was here." I began after I finished swallowing a bite.

"Actually...only for a few weeks. You were here the beginning of last month, so I don't think you got to see the neighbors move out and the house being leased." Dad answered. I nodded, looking out the window as I ate more pasta. Svea began to talk about a project she was doing in middle school, and we also listened to her talk about how her and her classmates found a lizard in the classroom.

" _He was literally crawling on the floor, and really fast too,_ " she said excitedly, making everyone smile. As a 6th grader, she was still getting used to a different school environment, and I was glad to see that she was enjoying herself so far.

When lunch was finished, and Esther was assigned the task of washing the dishes for today, me and Svea put on her shoes and headed out to meet the new neighbors. I didn't really put much thought into changing what I was wearing or whatever, but when I saw who we were going to be meeting, I literally contemplated the thought of turning around and going back into the house to change.

I was literally just wearing sweatpants with a Hollister hoodie. I wasn't exactly ready to meet anyone attractive...even though I dress a bit nicer most of the time.

A beautiful, dark red-haired girl with an _amazing_ sense of style was standing on the house's driveway, talking to the moving van driver. She occasionally stuck her hands in her pockets and then took them out, and I could tell that was habit of hers. Before I could stop her, Svea speed-walked up to the girl and stuck out her hand.

"Hi!" Svea spoke, and the girl jumped. I immediately felt myself blush. I never usually break my composure, so I was a little confused as to why I instantly began to blush.

"Hello," the girl spoke. Her voice reminded me of Zach's...smooth, perfect for singing. I wonder if she does actually sing...she'd be great at it. I just knew.

Her eyes flickered up to me, and I stepped a little closer. Svea still had her hand out, hanging in midair and waiting for the girl to shake it. After a split second, she did.

"What's your name?" Svea asked her, as if she didn't just interrupt the girl and the moving van guy's conversation. The girl looked up at the moving guy and shrugged, and then he nodded with a smile, letting her talk to Svea for the time being.

"My name's Elise Tyler, what's yours?"

Elise. It's been such a long time since I've seen someone with that name.

"Svea."

"That's...a very unique name." Elise replied with a bright smile on her face. She looked at me again, and we made eye contact. She nodded towards me.

"Is he your older brother?" Elise asked. Svea nodded, then turned to face me. She grabbed my hand and pulled me closer with a surprisingly strong grip. I laughed a little before standing beside her. Elise looked me over, and I suddenly became conscious of what I was wearing again.

For her style, though...if I wasn't the only guy standing outside on our street and seeing her, I knew that I wouldn't be the only one thinking of changing into something way more attractive. She was wearing a plain black shirt with a denim jacket, but she matched them with burgundy ripped skinny jeans and checkered Vans. She was almost like a female version of Corbyn...but better. And the fact that her dark hair was sleek straight made her outfit stand out more.

"Jonah," I introduced myself, holding out a hand to her. She smiled, showing perfectly white teeth with braces. Her hand immediately warmed mine as soon as our skin came in contact.

"Biblical name, right?" Elisa asked, and I nodded. We shared another smile and a few seconds of silence before Svea spoke up.

"Can I see what your house looks like?"

"Svea--" I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Elise laughed, and a sense of understanding passed through us that young kids occasionally say what's on their mind without thinking first.

"That's perfectly okay, I'll give you guys a tour."

And with that, Elise beckoned for us to follow her to her front door while the moving van guys unpacked more things. I noticed that she was the only person there.

"Are your parents helping to unload?" I asked her, trying not to sound too curious or weirdly interested in her personal life.

"No..." Elise replied, pushing open her front door and walking in. She took off her shoes, and me and Svea followed suit. She didn't say anything else. I knew at once that she had something preventing her from saying more. I wanted her to tell me a way to help her...in order to know more about her in the process.

I eyed Svea, who was looking around the house and marveling at how empty it was without a lot of furniture. She's always had an interest in home design, so I could see the gears of her brain working on how she could possibly design this house if she owned it.

"So this is the living room we're in," Elise said, gesturing to the spacious room. There wasn't much to the house right now, but one thing I loved about it immediately was the large window. It let a lot of sunlight in, and I noticed that Elise's hair turned the color of freshly picked raspberries in the natural light.

"This is...beautiful." Svea spoke up, and I just had to smile. She walked in the middle of the hardwood floor and spun around slowly, with her arms spread out. I followed her, looking out the window. The window let people who were inside the house look outside to the side yard, which was also very spacious and vacant.

"This will be an amazing place to paint," Elise said. I turned to her and raised my eyebrows.

"You paint?"

"Yeah. I've been oil painting ever since I was three, believe it or not." Elise smiled, biting her top lip. A wave of emotion overcame me for a split second. I blinked at her, and she turned around to go into the kitchen. As Svea and I followed her, I tucked my hands into my pockets.

I wanted to see her do that again.

I had to.

"Here's the kitchen..." she said, placing her hands on the kitchen island.

"Newly installed?" I said, noticing a ring of something that looked like sawdust around the island. She nodded, and Svea smiled in reply. My little sister walked around the kitchen, brushing her hands on the kitchen counters and the cupboard doors. Elise and I watched her, seeing how happy she was to see a new house. I took the time to look over Elise while she watched Svea.

Elise always looked like she was imagining so many things at once, even when she just had a natural facial expression. Even though I just met her...it was like I knew almost everything about her.

Almost.

"Do you have any pets?" Svea asked Elise. She nodded in reply, gesturing to two dog food bowls tucked into a corner that me and Svea hadn't noticed. 'Knight' was written in cursive letters on the side, with painted black pawprints for the bowls' design.

"Actually...he's upstairs. I'll go get him real quick." Elise said, walking over to the stairs and jogging up to the second level. Svea and I looked at each other, smiling. Dogs always had a special place in our hearts, especially since we had one of our own. Sawyer was also a source of stress relief for the both of us, so we were also grateful that we had him around.

A few minutes later, Elise walked down the stairs carrying a small ball of light brown fur. Svea gasped, walking to her in a few strides. The smallest puppy I've ever seen was in her arms.

"Meet Knight," Elise said, and the ball of fur's suddenly popped its head up to reveal the cutest face I've ever seen. I immediately walked closer, reaching my hand out slowly so Knight could smell me before petting Knight on the head.

"Prince or princess?" I asked.

"Princess...thanks for asking." Elise replied, and I saw the slightest hint of blush on her cheeks. _Was I actually making her blush?_

"Knight makes me miss Sawyer..." Svea sighed, and I smiled at her.

"Our house is really close by...you can walk there, you know that right?" I said. Svea smiled at me and then nodded. Giving her permission to walk home under the condition that she watches for any cars along the way, she left the house with a skip in her step.

Leaving me and Elise alone.

Elise and I watched from the driveway as my little sister walked back to our house in order to see Sawyer, and when we saw her walk onto my driveway from afar, I heard Elise let out a sigh.

"Do you want coffee?" she asked me. I raised my eyebrows. _Would I?_

"Um...yeah. Please." I said. She walked back into the house and I followed her. As she walked, she set Knight down on the carpet so he could run around freely, in between our legs and circling around Elise.

We headed into the kitchen again, and Elise opened up a cupboard to take out a Keurig coffee machine. After plugging it in, she also took out two coffee mugs and Starbucks K-cups.

"I hope you like dark roast, because that's all my dad put in here for now," Elise chuckled, opening up the top of the machine and putting in one of the cups. She placed a mug under and pressed start.

"Oh yeah, I love dark roast. Not a lot of people I know like it, but I've grown fond of it." I replied. _'Fond'? Who am I?_

"I know, right? Well, it's nice to meet another person, isn't it." Elise said to me with a smile. I smiled back.

Here I was in my hometown, talking with a beautiful girl, getting dark roast coffee, also inside a nice house. Life was good.

"Mind if I look around a little bit? I've always liked the houses on my street." I said. Elise motioned for me to go ahead as her coffee finished pouring into her mug.

I went out of the kitchen and back into the living room. 

There was a divider between the kitchen and the living room, and then there was another section of the first floor of the house. In my house, I called it the sitting room because we had placed all our couches there. In my living room, we had a ping pong table and TV, so that wouldn't have any more place to actually sit.

One of the walls had frames already hanging on it in Elise's sitting room.

I walked closer and noticed that all of the pictures consisted of four people: a woman, a man, and two little girls. All smiling. I knitted my eyebrows in confusion, then leaned closer to one of the photos.

The two little girls in the photo looked exactly the same. Orange-red hair. Dark blue eyes. Bright smile.

One of them _had_ to be Elise.

She didn't even mention she had a twin...nevertheless her parents.

But the main thing I noticed in all of the photos was that I could see how happy she was. I could see that she must have been ten times more happy when the photos were taken, supposedly because her family was all together.

I could see her soul.

And it was beautiful.

"Here's your coffee--" Elise's voice made me jump. I spun around and saw her holding two mugs filled with dark coffee. I stepped back from the photos, and Elise sighed again. She walked closer to me and handed me my coffee, then sipped hers.

"You found...the photos." Elise stammered. I nodded slowly, wondering how she was gonna respond. _Was this something I shouldn't have seen? Was this allowed?_

"I'm...sorry if I saw something personal, I didn't mean to--"

"No no no. You're fine. It's okay. It's just..." Elise's voice trailed off. She stared at her coffee for a few seconds, possibly thinking of what to say. I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right.

Elise took a deep breath, then continued.

"Let's--start over." she said. I nodded again.

"I'm Elise."

"Nice to meet you...I'm Jonah." I replied, a small smile appearing on my face.

"And this is my family." Elise said, gesturing to the photo in front of us. She pointed to each person.

"That's my mom. That's my dad. That's me." She pointed to one of the twins.

"The girl standing next to me is--my twin. Elva." Elise's voice cracked. I looked at her, noticing that she just choked back a sob. I fought the urge to reach out to her and hug her. There must be something wrong.

"How's she doing?" I asked, hoping that I chose the right thing to say.

I didn't.

I saw a tear fall down her cheek.

"I--I'm sorry, I...I don't want to cry right now, I don't mean to-" Elise said, furiously trying to wipe away the endless tears with the back of her hands. I shook my head quickly, and before I could think, I grabbed her wrists gently and pulled them away. Elise looked at me as she cried silently.

"You're not the only person who's felt that way, Elise... _I've_ felt the same way before too. But...as time passed, I learned that it's _okay_ to cry."

I didn't know what I was saying as more consoling words came out of my mouth. All I could think about was saying something, anything that would make her feel happier. All I could think was to say whatever was on my mind, just to see her smile again.

"Why are you crying, though? You can tell me." I said. Elise recollected herself by taking deep breaths, and I fought the urge to push a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. She looked at the picture, then me, then the picture again. It seemed like she was debating whether to tell me or not. I hoped that she would...it would help me to know her more.

"We aren't like that family who's in the picture anymore." She said shakily. I followed her eyes to the picture, looking at her and Elva one more time. They were holding hands and had the brightest of smiles on their faces. It was clear they had such a special bond with each other.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"My sister, Elva...she's in the hospital. And that changed all of our lives." Elise replied.

"Oh, really? What for?"

"Well, just a few months ago Elva started getting these extreme and frequent headaches. Every night, we'd hear her crying or trying to busy herself with something else, and me and my parents just thought that she was really stressed. And then, she started having less of the ability to balance while standing, and the headaches just got worse." Elise absentmindedly played with her hair as she continued.

"Dad had to take her to the hospital in the morning, because her headaches were too bad and she didn't have the strength to go to school. Mom and I stayed at home, worrying. When she _finally_ got back, she didn't talk to me or Mom. She simply went upstairs and started putting clothes and necessities in a luggage. Soon, Dad got the courage to tell Mom and I that she had been diagnosed with...a brain tumor." Elise ended her sentence with another sigh.

I looked at her sadly. Without saying a word, I reached my hand out to her and laced my fingers through hers. She looked at me, and I knew that was the thing she needed. Someone by her side. Someone she could depend on.

"We all ended up going to the hospital a few hours later, and she got assigned to a hospital room. The doctors weren't saying much to me, but they were always discussing something with my parents. Costs, possibly. Treatments. Elva always had tears on her face, and I wanted to stay with her, but there were times when the doctor would pull her and our parents aside, preventing me from being next to her.

"Everything went downhill from there. My parents had to work longer and more frequently, because they needed to have more money in order to pay for her treatments and appointments. Elva basically lives at the hospital now, trying to fight every headache with more medications. And the worst part was visiting her. Just in the first week of her being in the hospital, she changed a lot." 

Elva couldn't do as much as she did in the past, like eating three meals in a day or talking freely about how her day was going, or school. Her brain stem glioma made her more weak and less capable of talking as much as she used to. And as time passed...the doctors told me and my parents that the chances of her--" Elise stopped. More tears were streaming down her face.

"That's why we moved here, too." She continued talking at a slower pace, sniffing between each word. I nodded at the appropriate times, letting her know that I was listening and that I was there for her.

"This house was closer to the hospital, and my parents really wanted to be closer to Elva just in case...in case..." Elise didn't need to finish her sentence to help me understand what she was trying to say.

Soundlessly and carefully, I pulled on her hand to make her move closer to me. Elise's face, shimmering with tears, moved even closer to me, and I wrapped my arms around her waist.

My mind was blank.

Deep in my heart, I knew that I was in too deep.

I knew that I was moving too fast, already holding her in my arms the day I met her.

I knew that I was falling for her too fast.

Most of all, I knew that things could change between us in a snap.

But...

...knowing someone that I could relate to, who experienced seeing someone in their family having to go to the hospital and endure having a type of cancer, was truly something different.

"I...I feel so comfortable talking to you and being with you, it's like, I know you from the past or something," Elise said quietly. I almost didn't hear her. She moved her arms so they would be around my neck, and we looked at each other.

"Can I...may I kiss you?" she asked. I looked in her eyes. I got lost in them.

"Can I kiss you back?" I replied, wistfully. A small smile appeared on her lips, and we moved closer.

And closer...and closer.

Our lips touched.

My heart and my mind were racing, all at once.

And I knew...

Elise Tyler.

She's the girl I've been looking for.

\---

Stats:

Elise = 18. Tall. Waist-length, dark red hair. A twin. Just moved, with her parents, her sister and her dog. Sees something in Jonah that makes her feel comfortable around him. Wonders what that something is. Single.  
Elva = 18. Waist-length, dark red hair. Tall. A twin. Misses how she was in the past. Misses hanging out with her sister and talking about anything. Single.

Jonah = 20. Brown hair. Tall. In love with coffee. Admires the beauty of the world around him. Cares about his family, music, and his band. Single.  
Esther = 18. Tall. Brown, wavy hair. Acts as if she's older than Jonah. Has so much respect for her mom, a cancer survivor. Taken.  
Svea = 11. Brown, naturally wavy hair. Short. Cares for Jonah so much, has a soft spot for dogs. Looks up to her older sister. Single.

Song References:

= Tell Me  
= On My Way  
= Just To See You Smile  
= In Too Deep  
= Falling  
= Something Different

**Author's Note:**

> please leave kudos and comments :)
> 
> p.s. this series can be read in any order, just so you guys know. i honestly don't know how I organized this, so sorry if it's a little confusing. each work occurs a while after the time of the previous work.


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